Benefits of a “No Spend” day
What does it mean to have a “No Spend” day? It’s exactly how it sounds and more beneficial than you think.
A “no spend day” can also be called a “spending fast” or a “no spend challenge”.
Challenge is the key word here, unless you plan on staying in bed and offline all day, it’s difficult not to spend even a dollar in a day! But why is that? When you step out of your home, it always seems like there’s something you need, or you find something you want. We are bombarded with ads everywhere which provoke an emotional response within us. We sometimes feel we NEED things. If a marketing campaign is successful, it’s designed to target your pain points and you believe you NEED it. Maybe you don’t even see the subliminal messaging behind some ads, but your emotions do...
Having a "no spend” day will not only allow you to save a few dollars, it will also bring awareness to why you spend. When the feeling of spending money, the challenge is to ask yourself: “Why do I think I need it?”
Pay attention to your gut feelings regarding your answer and determine whether you want this to be true.
Be cautious of this little thing that we call “habits”. Habits have a large impact on our financial situation. We just don’t consciously think that they do, but it’s time to look at how they shape our decisions. Remember, you get to decide if the habit is serving you to live your best life possible – always.
The first step for a successful “No Spend” day is to prepare yourself. Make sure you have groceries and your desired beverages of choice in your kitchen, but don’t go overboard. If there’s something urgent that you need to spend money on, it’s perfectly fine to, but try to avoid it.
Today is about bringing more awareness to trying to not spend anything and seeing how that feels. You will become more conscious of your spending habits and be able to see that every little thing that we use costs money. By having these “No Spend” days, you’ll realize that there are ways to eliminate small unnecessary purchases like bringing your coffee from home instead of stopping at the nearest coffee shop.
Now if you want to challenge yourself and continue your "No Spend” day into the next two days or week, you can try it! This would simply mean you can only spend your money on necessities and bills, but imagine how much you could save? Seriously imagine it and when the number becomes a reality it will be time to think about what you could do with the extra savings... With every cent you save, you move closer toward financial freedom.
No matter how long your “No Spend” day lasts, just make sure you won’t overspend once you've completed your challenge. When you get the urge to splurge, ask yourself these questions…
Do I really need it today? Do I already have it? Is it a necessity? Can I replace this expense with something I already have? Why do I think I need it? Will this move me forward into becoming the financial confident person I want to be?
Coaching questions:
1. What do you hope to achieve out of your no-spend day?
2. What would you like to do with the extra savings you created?
Books to inspire:
· The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time